"Confronted with the problems that characterize our herding culture, we are perhaps like the metaphorical man wounded by an arrow that the Buddha discussed with his students. He said that the man would be foolish if he tried to discover who shot the arrow, why he shot it, where he was when he shot it, and so forth, before having the arrow removed and the wound treated, lest he bleed to death attempting to get his questions answered. We, likewise, can all remove the arrow and treat the wound of eating animal foods right now. We don't need to know the whole history. We can easily see it is cruel and that it is unnecessary; whatever people have done in the past, we are not obligated to imitate them if it is based on delusion. Perhaps in the past people thought they needed to enslave animals and people to survive, and that the cruelty involved in it was somehow allowed them. It's obviously not necessary for us today, as we can plainly see by walking into any grocery store, and the sooner we can awaken from the thrall of the obsolete mythos that we are predatory by nature, the sooner we'll be able to evolve spiritually and discover and fulfill our purpose on this earth." Dr. Will Tuttle The World Peace Diet: Eating for Spiritual Health and Social Harmony www.willtuttle.com/

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances of survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." - Albert EinsteinMany people are going “green” to save resources and sustain the planet. Shifting to a plant-based diet supports your personal health as well as the health of our Mother Earth. As yogis, there is a long tradition of living in harmony with the earth and its inhabitants.Ahimsa is the Sanskrit term for “non-violence.” Living as a yogi, it makes sense to shift to a vegetarian lifestyle. This way of being embraces the concept of not harming ourselves, our bodies, the earth we live on or the animals, both wild and domesticated. In addition to feeling more energy, vitality and lightness of the body when practicing yoga, you help “green” the earth by reducing or abstaining from eating meat—one bite at a time!A vegetarian diet helps heal the planet by conserving fossil fuels—it takes significantly more energy to produce meat products than to grow plant foods. We are all learning how critical it is to reduce our carbon “footprint.” We help the planet when we buy organic and locally-grown produce as well, since we reduce transportation impacts and help with soil conservation.There are so many reasons why a plant-based diet is an effective and easy way to “go green”—by eating in a healthy way for yourself and the planet. You will improve your personal health, support your yoga practice and do your part to heal the planet every time you sit down to a meal. Make a New Years’ resolution to learn more about your connection to the food you eat. Go “green” to get healthier and bless the earth in 2012.Sunflower Seed Salad DressingThis is the most popular salad dressing in the Sivananda Ashrams and centers worldwide. Try some on your leafy greens!Blend 1 C oil, 1/2 C tamari, 1/2 C lemon juice and 1 to 2 C sunflower seeds until you get a smooth and creamy consistency. If the consistency is too thick, add some water; if too thin, add more sunflower seeds. To this mixture, you can add any herb or spice you prefer. Taste and adjust. Makes 4-5 cups.Stacie Dooreck (Saraswati)Author of SunLight Chair Yoga: yoga for everyone! book and teacher trainingswww.sunlightchairyoga.com Vegan Recipes on www.facebook.com/ahimsadiet and www.ahimsadiet.comRecommended: The Yoga Cookbook: Vegetarian Food for Body and Mind by the Sivananda CentersFirst Published 2012:http://www.yogamint.com/indepth/green-plate-special

from VegInspiration by Will TuttleThere is the macrobiotic perspective that animal foods are extremely yang in their energetic impact on the body, contracting the energy field, and that the body will then naturally and inevitably crave foods and substances that are extremely yin and expansive. These extreme yin foods are alcohol, white sugar, drugs of most every kind, tobacco, and caffeine. Grains, legumes, and vegetables tend to be neither excessively yin nor yang, but are more balanced, and so create few cravings.Eating extreme foods forces the body to gyrate continuously between the two poles, alternatively craving contracting foods like meat, cheese, eggs, and salt, and then expansive substances like sweets, coffee, alcohol, drugs, and tobacco, ad nauseam.Prayer Circle for TodayToday let us send our prayers to all animals vivisected in laboratories and classrooms.May compassion and love reign over all the earth for all animals used in experiments. Dear primates, dogs, cats, mice; rats, pigs, lambs, rabbits, frogs, and all of you who are imprisoned in cages, tortured in useless experiments, separated from your loved ones, and suffering constant pain, fear, and loneliness, sometimes for many long years.Dear ones, we bear witness to your suffering, we take action to permanently end it, and we continually send out an energy field of love and compassion to comfort you and to transform the hearts and souls of those who support this violent oppression.We send our tears and our prayers on wings of love to you. Our love is all around you.Compassion encircles the earth for each of you and for all beings.( 7 daily prayers by Judy Carman www.peacetoallbeings.com)www.worldpeacediet.com – our daily VegInspiration For The Daywww.circleofcompassion.org – our Prayer Circle For Animals Weekly Updatewww.facebook.com/groups/prayercircleforanimals – our Prayer Circle For Animals Facebook Groupwww.worldpeacemastery.com – our online self-paced WPD Facilitator Trainingwww.facebook.com/groups/worldpeacediet – our WPD Facebook Group

A healthy diet? No problem!If we ignore the basic principles of healthy eating, we will eventually pay the price – in the form of physical ailments. A balanced vegetarian diet should therefore consist of the following elements: protein, carbohydrates, fat, minerals, vitamins and water. Carbohydrates and fat are the main sources of energy for the smooth functioning of the organs. Proteins, minerals and water are needed for the continual regeneration of the cells. Vitamins and minerals are necessary to regulate bodily processes and to maintain hormonal and enzymatic functioning. Experts recommend that our diet should consist to 55% of carbohydrates, 30% of fat and 15% of proteins.

The menu of a yogi is made up of grains, pulses, plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds and a small amount of dairy products. This diet is wholesome, well-balanced, easy to digest and supplies the body with a maximum of nutrients and energy.

But that’s not enough ...In order to prevent diseases, it is not enough to eat natural foods. Day in, day out, we are exposed to an overload of toxins and unhealthy environmental factors, such as polluted airand water, pesticides in our food, electromagnetic pollution and so on. Effective prevention of diseases is therefore only possible when thefive points of yoga are observed:

"The yamas and niyamas**** and the original Buddhist precepts are a foundation without which correct practice is considered untenable. Nowadays, most people seem to feel free to follow teachings in their own way and measure and fudge them as they like. In so doing, they lose much of the original intent and effect. "